The Chronicle of Fredegar (4.90) records the burial in 642 of the aristocrat Flaochad at the church of *Benignus (martyr of Dijon, S00320) in Dijon (eastern Gaul), and notes that he and Willibad, whom he had recently had killed, had previously sworn pacts of friendship to one another at the 'places of the saints'. Written in Latin in Gaul/Francia, 659/700.
E08386
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Chronicle of Fredegar, 4.90
[...] Flaochadus deinceps uehementem inibat consilium de interetum Villebadi [...] Flaochadus Amalgarius et Chramnelenus, qui consilium de interetum Villebadi unianemeter conspirauerunt, de urbem Agustedunum maturius promouentis [...] Ibique Willebadus interfecetur, plurimi ipso de suis gladio trucedantur [...] Flaochadus iudicio Dei percussus, uicatus a febre [...] undecemo diae post Willibadi interetum amisit spiritum sepultusque est in ecclesia sancti Benigni suburbano Diuioninse. Credetur a plurimis, hy duo Flaochadus et Willebadus, eo quod multa in inuicem per loca sanctorum de amicicias oblegandum sacramenta dedirant et uterque in populis sibi subgectis copeditates instincto iniqui oppresserunt semul et a rebus nudauerunt, quod iudicius Dei de eorum oppressione plurema multetudine liberassit et eorum perfedia et mendecia eos uterque interire fecissit.
'...Thereafter Flaochad set about planning Willibad's death as a matter of urgency... (later, that September) Flaochad, Amalgar and Chramnelen, who were in agreement about the plan to kill Willebad, came early out of the city of Autun... There Willebad was killed, and many of his followers were cut down with him... Flaochad was struck down by divine judgement and attacked by fever... he gave up his spirit eleven days after Willebad's death. He was buried in the church of Saint Benignus, outside Dijon. Many believed that since Flaochad and Willebad had time and again sworn mutual friendship at the places of the saints and in addition had both greedily oppressed and robbed their people, it was God's judgement that delivered the land from their overweening tyranny and laid them low for their faithlessness and lying.'
Text and translation: Wallace-Hadrill 1960, 76-9, lightly modified.
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityOath
Burial ad sanctos
Oral transmission of saint-related stories
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesAristocrats
Source
The work known as the Chronicle of Fredegar dates from the second half of the 7th century. There is a long history of controversy over the questions of how many authors were involved in its compilation and precisely when they worked, but the current consensus is that it was produced by a single author working in one of the Frankish kingdoms at some point after 659 (Collins 1996, 83, 91-96).While the first three books of the chronicle largely reproduce earlier sources, Book 4 is mostly an original composition, covering events from 584 to 642.
Discussion
Flaochad was the mayor of the palace of Burgundy, 639-42; Willibad was a patricius in the same kingdom. This report on their downfall constitutes the final lines of the Chronicle of Fredegar in its extant form.This passage is one of several in which the Fredegar chronicler reports oaths connected to saints' places (loca) or feast days which were subsequently broken: compare E08379 (Martin), E08384 (unspecified), and E08385 (Dionysius).
Bibliography
Edition and translation:Wallace-Hadrill, J.M., The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar (London, 1960).
Further reading:
Collins, R., "Fredegar," in: P.J. Geary (ed.), Authors of the Middle Ages: Historical and Religious Writers of the Latin West, vol. 4, nos. 12-13 (Aldershot, 1996), 73-138.
Collins, R., Die Fredegar-Chroniken (Hannover, 2007).
David Lambert and Benjamin Savill
01/02/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00320 | Benignus, martyr of Dijon | Benignus | Certain | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | sancti | Certain |
|---|
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